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Description:
The miracle of embryonic development is mentioned in the Quran in such minute
detail, much of which was unknown to scientists until only recently. It
mentions the first stages of life after conception, the second stage of life
after conception, and witnesses of scientists about these scientific facts of
the Quran.

In
the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man’s embryonic development:

“We
created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a
place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah
(leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a
mudghah (chewed substance)…” (Quran 23:12-14)

In
comparing a leech to an embryo in the alaqah stage, we find similarity
between the two [1]as we can see in figure 1. Also, the embryo at this
stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech,
which feeds on the blood of others. [2]

Figure
1: Drawings illustrating the similarities in appearance between a leech and a
human embryo at the alaqah stage. (Leech drawing from Human Development
as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 37, modified from
Integrated Principles of Zoology, Hickman and others. Embryo drawing from
The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.)

The
second meaning of the word alaqah is “suspended thing.” This is
what we can see in figures 2 and 3, the suspension of the embryo, during the alaqah
stage, in the womb of the mother.

Figure
2: We can see in this diagram the suspension of an embryo during the alaqah
stage in the womb (uterus) of the mother. (The Developing Human, Moore and
Persaud, 5th ed., p. 66.)

Figure
3: In this photomicrograph, we can see the suspension of an embryo (marked B)
during the alaqah stage (about 15 days old) in the womb of the
mother. The actual size of the embryo is about 0.6 mm. (The Developing
Human, Moore, 3rd ed., p. 66, from Histology, Leeson and Leeson.)

The
third meaning of the word alaqah is “blood clot.” We find that the
external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage
is similar to that of a blood clot. This is due to the presence of
relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo during this stage [3] (see
figure 4). Also during this stage, the blood in the embryo does not
circulate until the end of the third week. [4] Thus, the embryo at this stage
is like a clot of blood.

Figure
4: Diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo during the alaqah
stage. The external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is similar to
that of a blood clot, due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood
present in the embryo. (The Developing Human, Moore, 5th ed., p. 65.)

So
the three meanings of the word alaqah correspond accurately to the
descriptions of the embryo at the alaqah stage.

The
next stage mentioned in the verse is the mudghah stage. The Arabic word
mudghah means “chewed substance.” If one were to take a piece of gum and
chew it in his or her mouth and then compare it with an embryo at the mudghah
stage, we would conclude that the embryo at the mudghah stage acquires the
appearance of a chewed substance. This is because of the somites at the
back of the embryo that “somewhat resemble teethmarks in a chewed substance.”[5]
(see figures 5 and 6).

Figure
5: Photograph of an embryo at the mudghah stage (28 days old). The embryo
at this stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance, because the
somites at the back of the embryo somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed
substance. The actual size of the embryo is 4 mm. (The Developing Human,
Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 82, from Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto
University, Kyoto, Japan.)

Figure
6: When comparing the appearance of an embryo at the mudghah stage with a piece
of gum that has been chewed, we find similarity between the two.

A) Drawing
of an embryo at the mudghah stage. We can see here the somites at the
back of the embryo that look like teeth marks. (The Developing Human, Moore and
Persaud, 5th ed., p. 79.)

B)
Photograph of a piece of gum that has been chewed.

How could Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God
be upon him, have possibly known all this 1400 years ago, when scientists have
only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes
which did not exist at that time? Hamm and Leeuwenhoek were the first
scientists to observe human sperm cells (spermatozoa) using an improved
microscope in 1677 (more than 1000 years after Muhammad). They mistakenly
thought that the sperm cell contained a miniature preformed human being that
grew when it was deposited in the female genital tract.[6]

Professor
Emeritus Keith L. Moore[7] is one of the world’s most prominent
scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology and is the author of the
book entitled The Developing Human, which has been translated into eight
languages. This book is a scientific reference work and was chosen by a
special committee in the United States as the best book authored by one
person. Dr. Keith Moore is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology
at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. There, he was Associate
Dean of Basic Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and for 8 years was the
Chairman of the Department of Anatomy. In 1984, he received the most
distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B.
Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He has directed
many international associations, such as the Canadian and American Association
of Anatomists and the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences.

In
1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor
Moore said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in
the Quran about human development. It is clear to me that these
statements must have come to Muhammad from God, because almost all of this
knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to
me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God.” Consequently, Professor
Moore was asked the following question: “Does this mean that you believe that
the Quran is the word of God?” He replied: “I find no difficulty in
accepting this.”[8]

During
one conference, Professor Moore stated: “....Because the staging of human
embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during
development, it is proposed that a new system of classification could be
developed using the terms mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah (what Muhammad, may
the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said, did, or approved of).
The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present
embryological knowledge. The intensive studies of the Quran and hadeeth
(reliably transmitted reports by the Prophet Muhammad’s companions of what he
said, did, or approved of) in the last four years have revealed a system for
classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the seventh
century A.D. Although Aristotle, the founder of the science of
embryology, realized that chick embryos developed in stages from his studies of
hen’s eggs in the fourth century B.C., he did not give any details about these
stages. As far as it is known from the history of embryology, little was
known about the staging and classification of human embryos until the twentieth
century. For this reason, the descriptions of the human embryo in the Quran
cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the seventh century. The only
reasonable conclusion is: these descriptions were revealed to Muhammad from
God. He could not have known such details because he was an illiterate
man with absolutely no scientific training.”

Footnotes:

[1]The Developing Human,
Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 8.

[2]Human Development as
Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 36.

[3]Human Development as
Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, pp. 37-38.

[4]The Developing Human,
Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 65.

[5]The Developing Human,
Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 8.

[6]The Developing Human,
Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 9.

[7]
Note: The occupations of all the scientists mentioned in this web site
were last updated in 1997.

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